Chapter XI

1858-1860.

Commercial Panic in London--Suspension of the Bank Charter
Act--The Orsini Plot--The Conspiracy to Murder Bill--Defeat and
Resignation of the Government--Lord Derby's Second
Administration--Disraeli's Reform Bill--Vote of No
Confidence--Defeat and Resignation of the Government--Lord
Palmerston's Second Administration--Threatened French
Invasion--The Volunteers--The Paper Duty Repealed by the Commons
and Restored by the Lords--A Constitutional Problem--Its
Solution--War with China--British and French Defeat at
Pei-ho--Return of Lord Elgin to China--Wreck of the
_Malabar_--Capture of the Tangku and Taku Forts--Occupation of
Tien-tsin--Murder of British Officers and others--Capitulation
of Pekin--Destruction of the Summer Palace--Treaty with China.

[Sidenote: Commercial Panic.]

Palmerston's Government, apparently one of the most popular that had ever been formed, had to bow under the adverse influence of events beyond its control. In addition to the commotion radiating from the centre of disturbance in India, there had been widespread commercial disaster at home, following on a period of excited speculation. On November 12 the Bank Charter Act had been suspended, and the Bank of England received authority to exceed the statutory limits in meeting demands for discount and advances, because of the numerous failures and prevailing money-panic.

[Sidenote: The Orsini Plot.]

[Sidenote: Government Defeat and Resignation.]

But the squall that was to overturn the Ministry came from a quarter which nobody could have foreseen. On January 14 a murderous attack was made on the Emperor and Empress of the French in Paris. An Italian refugee, Felice Orsini, well known in England, waited, with a number of fellow-ruffians, at the door of the Opera House in the Rue Lepelletier, and threw three bombs, charged with a powerful explosive, at the Imperial carriage as it drew up. The effect was appalling: the intended victims escaped unhurt, but ten persons were blown to death among the bystanders, and no less than 156 were wounded, of whom Orsini himself was one. All this was dreadful enough, and yet the connection thereof with the stability of Palmerston's Administration might seem exceedingly remote. It was established in the following way. Orsini, a man of good birth and attractive exterior, had been very well received in English society, and his appeals on behalf of the Italian provinces of Austria had received polite attention, and, among enthusiastic advocates of freedom, a great deal of sympathy. London was then, as it remains to this day, a sanctuary for political refugees from all the ends of the earth. Palmerston, however, had enough common-sense and honesty to recognise that it was one thing to allow fugitives to shelter in England, and quite another to take no precautions as to their good behaviour, and he prepared and introduced a Bill to strengthen the law dealing with conspiracy to murder. This was vehemently opposed on the first reading by Lord John Russell, but Disraeli and the Conservatives helped to carry that stage by a large majority. In the interval, however, before the second reading, public opinion had undergone a marked change. The tone of the French Press had become intensely insulting towards Great Britain; people in London had got it in their heads that the Conspiracy to Murder Bill had been prepared at the dictation of the French Ambassador, and Palmerston was suspected of being at his old game of truckling to Louis Napoleon. The suspicion was fatal to him. An amendment to the second reading, moved by Mr. Milner Gibson, was supported by Disraeli and 146 Conservatives, and carried against the Government by a majority of nineteen. Palmerston resigned at once, and Lord Derby began his second administration with his eldest son, Lord Stanley, at the Colonial Office, Lord Malmesbury at the Foreign Office, and Disraeli leading the House of Commons as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY,

1811-1863

Thackeray, whose father was in the Indian Civil Service, was born at Calcutta and educated at the Charterhouse and Cambridge. He studied in Paris as an artist, but took to literature and wrote for _Fraser's Magazine_ and (from 1842) for _Punch_. It was not until 1847 that, with the publication of "Vanity Fair," he became a serious competitor for popular favour with Dickens. In 1859 he became the first editor of the _Cornhill Magazine_.]

LORD MACAULAY, 1800-1859.

Thomas Babington Macaulay was the son of Zachary Macaulay the philanthropist. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was called to the Bar in 1826. In 1834 he went to Calcutta as a member of the Supreme Council; on his return he became Secretary at War, and, in 1846, Paymaster to the Forces. His "Essays" began to appear in the _Edinburgh Review_ in 1825; his "Lays of Ancient Rome" were published in 1842. He was engaged on the final chapters of his "History of England" when he died, in 1859. He was raised to the peerage in 1857.]

The Island of Ceylon has a population exceeding 3,000,000. Its principal product is tea, of which in 1896 over 100,000,000 lbs. were exported. The chief town is Colombo. Kandy, situated on a beautiful lake in the interior, was the capital of the native kingdom before its annexation by the British in 1815.]

[Sidenote: Disraeli's Reform Bill.]

Disraeli had once taunted Palmerston with having no domestic policy. "His external system," he said, "was turbulent and aggressive, that his rule at home may be tranquil and unassailed." That was, in truth, the greater part of the secret of Palmerston's popularity; he refrained from exciting apprehension and stirring combustible questions. He made no enemies at home, though he might be careless in giving offence abroad. But that was a rôle not at all suited to Disraeli's ambition. He knew that at any moment something might happen to drive his party out of office, and he resolved to prepare a soft place to fall on. It would be a fine stroke to take Lord John Russell's favourite project out of his hands, to "dish the Whigs" by lowering the franchise. John Bright had returned to active politics and was stirring up the people in the north to agitate for Reform. He would take the wind out of Bright's sails too; and he persuaded Lord Derby to let him bring in a Reform Bill of his own.

A. Gunner, Artillery.
B. Sapper, Engineers.
C. Officer Queen's Westminster.
D. Officer, Victoria Rifles.
E. Private, Six-foot Guards.
F. Private, Artists.

UNIFORMS OF VOLUNTEERS, 1860.]

It was an unlucky device. The Bill was not a very formidable one, but it disturbed a great question. Two members of the Cabinet, Mr. Walpole and Mr. Henley, threw up their offices rather than join in work which they, in common with most Conservatives in the country, considered alien from Conservative principles. The Whigs and Radicals would have no hand in such a measure, which they exposed as a sham, and Russell persuaded the House to reject it by a majority of thirty-nine. Neither did the Bill serve its author's purpose in the country. When Lord Derby appealed to the constituencies, the response came, at the end of May 1859, in the form of a feeble accession to Conservative numbers, not strong enough to avert defeat by thirteen votes on a vote of want of confidence, moved by a young member put up by the combined Whigs, Radicals, and Peelites--the Marquis of Hartington (now Duke of Devonshire). The only effects of Disraeli's stratagem had been to disgust and disunite his own party, and to cause his opponents to sink their differences in united action.

A. Private, London Rifles.
B. Gunner, Artillery.
C. Sapper, Engineers.
D. Officer, 1st Middlesex.
E. Officer, and V.B. Royal Fusiliers.
F. Private, Artists.
G. Private, London Scottish.

UNIFORMS OF VOLUNTEER BATTALIONS, 1897.]

[Sidenote: Lord Palmerston's Second Administration.]

[Sidenote: Threatened French Invasion.]

[Sidenote: The Volunteers.]

On Lord Derby's resignation, Lord Palmerston formed a strong Cabinet, including Lord Granville, Mr. Gladstone, Sir George Cornewall-Lewis, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and Mr. Cardwell. Lord John Russell refused any post except that of Foreign Secretary, which shut out Lord Clarendon, who declined any other appointment. At the moment, as it happened, England was keeping scrupulously clear of the conflict between France and Austria. The Queen's speech to the new Parliament had announced that "a strict and impartial neutrality" should be maintained, and this was done in spite of persistent attempts on the part of Louis Napoleon to secure the assistance of Great Britain in the deliverance of Italy, in spite, too, of the strong sympathy entertained by Mr. Gladstone and others in the Cabinet for the cause of Italian nationality. There was, however, a shrewd distrust of the French Emperor growing in the minds of the British public at this time, which made it easier than it had otherwise been for the Government to steer clear of foreign complications. In fact, the development of the arsenal at Cherbourg and the assembly there of a powerful fleet were interpreted, perhaps not without justice, as indicating a contemplated invasion of England. The Volunteer movement first assumed important proportions in the year 1859 under this feeling of apprehension.

"Form, form, riflemen, form!
Ready--be ready, to meet the storm"--

sang the Laureate, and the storm was expected to come from the French quarter. However, whatever aggressive intentions may have passed through the mind of Napoleon III. were dissipated by the formidable front assumed by the people of Great Britain. The immense improvement which had been recently effected in arms of precision caused irregular troops to assume far greater importance in the calculations of an intending invader than they ever had before; and the same cause, by encouraging fine marksmanship and developing competitive skill at the targets, has imparted to the Volunteers of 1859 a permanence quite without precedent in the history of similar martial movements.

ROBERT SOUTHEY, LL.D., 1774-1843.

Poet Laureate 1813-1843.]

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, 1770-1850.

Poet Laureate 1843-1850.]

LORD TENNYSON, 1809-1892.

Appointed Poet Laureate 1850. His first published verses appeared in a volume of "Poems by Two Brothers" in 1827. He was created Baron Tennyson in 1884.]

ROBERT BROWNING, 1812-1889.

Poet. His last volume, "Asolando," was published on the day of his death, December 12, 1889. He and Tennyson lie in adjoining graves in "Poet's Corner," Westminster Abbey.]

[Sidenote: Question of the Paper Duty.]

Mr. Gladstone's Budget of 1860 contained a proposal which brought about his final rupture with the Conservative party. He proposed to repeal the paper duty. Now the burdens upon journalism, originally imposed with the deliberate intention of limiting the number and regulating the political character of newspapers, had already been greatly reduced since the beginning of the reign. The stamp duty had stood at a penny on each copy of a newspaper till 1855, when it was abolished; but there remained still a pretty heavy tax on paper. Mr. Gladstone's proposal to abolish it was met with strong opposition from all sections of politicians, and, strangely enough, from paper manufacturers themselves, as well as from the proprietors of high-priced journals. There was, besides, a vague, but very general, dread of the effect on the public mind of the multiplication of cheap literature. Nevertheless, the Budget Resolutions removing the paper tax passed through Committee, though the last of them was only carried by a majority of nine votes. At the present day, the Chancellor of the Exchequer's proposals, having passed through that ordeal, would be regarded as impregnable. It was otherwise in 1860. Lord Lyndhurst, then in his eighty-ninth year, and so frail in body that a rail had to be fixed opposite his seat to support him in speaking, joined the opposition raised in the House of Lords to the repeal of the paper tax, and made a marvellously vigorous and effective attack on the proposal. The Lords vetoed the repeal by a majority of eighty-nine.

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN 1860.

1. Rt. Hon. Edward Ellice.
2. Rt. Hon. Sir Francis T. Baring.
3. Lord H. G. Vane.
4. Richard Cobden, Esq.
5. John Bright, Esq.
6. Lord Elcho.
7. Rt. Hon. Edward Cardwell, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
8. Sir Roundell Palmer.
9. Rt. Hon. Milner Gibson, President of Board of Trade.
10. Rt. Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers, President of Poor Law Board.
11. W. Massey, Esq.
12. Viscount Palmerston, First Lord of the Treasury.
13. Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bart.
14. Rt. Hon. the Speaker.
15. Thomas Erskine May, Esq. C.B.
16. Lord Charles Russell.
17. Mr. Lee.
18. Rt. Hon. Sir John Pakington.
19. Sir Hugh M'Calmont Cairns.
20. Col. J. W. Patten.
21. Rt. Hon. Sotheron Estcourt.
22. Lord John Manners.
23. Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer Lytton, Bart.
24. Rt. Hon. Major-General J. Peel.
25. Lord Stanley.
26. Rt. Hon. B. Disraeli.
27. Rt. Hon. Spencer H. Walpole.
28. Rt. Hon. J. W. Henley.
29. Lord John Russell.
30. Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
31. Rt. Hon. Sir George Grey, Secretary of State.
32. Rt. Hon. Sir Charles Wood, Bart., Secretary of State for India.
33. Rt. Hon. Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart., Secretary of State
for War.]

[Sidenote: A Constitutional Problem.]

Ministerialists were very indignant; the House of Lords had violated the Constitution; they had refused to sanction the repeal of a tax ordered by the House of Commons, and thereby infringed the privileges of that Chamber. The next step would be that the Lords would claim the right of imposing taxation--the cherished monopoly of the House of Commons. It was certainly an awkward question, but Palmerston was equal to the occasion. He averted a popular storm by moving for a Select Committee to examine and report on the degree, if any, in which the Lords had exceeded their powers. The Committee sat for two months, and reported that no breach of privilege was involved in the refusal of the Lords to ratify the repeal of a tax. It was not the re-imposition of a tax, for, although the Lords have no power to impose taxation, a tax can neither be repealed or imposed without the concurrence of both Houses. In the end the difficulty was got over by Palmerston, who moved certain resolutions affirming the exclusive right of the House of Commons to impose or remit taxation.

ATTACK ON FORTS ON THE PEI-HO RIVER, May 20, 1858.

The Chinese had completed batteries and earthworks armed with eighty-seven guns, and had obstructed the river with junks chained together. The British and French squadrons forced a passage, and the Plenipotentiaries (Lord Elgin and Baron de Gros) proceeded to Tien-tsin and opened negotiations. The Treaty then obtained was to be ratified at Pekin within twelve months; but the Plenipotentiaries appointed in accordance with this clause met, in June 1859, a still more determined resistance.]

Hongkong is the principal centre of British trade with China. Ceded to Great Britain 1842.]

[Sidenote: War with China.]

Serious trouble had broken out again between Great Britain and China. Mr. Bruce, brother to the Earl of Elgin, had set out for Pekin as British Plenipotentiary, in company with the French Plenipotentiary, as provided by the Treaty of Tien-tsin. They were escorted by a squadron, chiefly consisting of gunboats, under Admiral Hope; but on arriving at the mouth of the Pei-ho they found the passage obstructed by booms and defended by recent fortifications. As the authorities at Tien-tsin returned evasive answers to the Admiral's remonstrances, he determined to force a passage. The gunboats advanced up the Pei-ho on June 24, when suddenly a tremendous fire was opened on them from masked batteries in the forts. The _Kestrel_ was sunk, the _Lee_ had to be run ashore to avoid sinking, the _Plover_, which carried the Admiral's flag, was disabled, so that he had to shift his flag to the _Cormorant_, and the Admiral himself, being severely wounded, had to hand over the command to Captain Shadwell. It was determined to make an immediate attempt to carry the forts by assault. A body of 1,000 men, including sixty French, were landed at 7 p.m., but, owing to the mud, which was knee, and even waist-deep, only about fifty men succeeded in reaching the furthest of three ditches surrounding the south fort. Their ammunition was wet, all the scaling ladders, except one, either had been broken by the tremendous fire from the fort or had stuck in the mud. Ten brave fellows rushed forward with this one, but three of them were shot dead at once, and five were desperately wounded. There was nothing for it but retreat. The loss in this disastrous affair was eighty-nine officers and men killed and 345 wounded.

MONTREAL.

This is the largest town in Canada; population (1891), 216,650. On the extreme right of the picture can be seen three or four spans of the Victoria Tubular Bridge, nearly two miles long, crossing the St. Lawrence river.]

QUEBEC.

The Capital of the former province of Lower Canada is largely inhabited by people of French descent, and French is currently spoken.]

The government of Canada is (under the Sovereign) vested in a Governor-General and a Privy Council, and the legislative power is exercised by a Parliament of two Houses, called the "Senate" and "House of Commons." Canada has an area of 3,315,000 square miles, and a population of over 5,000,000 (4,833,239 in 1891).]

[Sidenote: Wreck of the "Malabar."]

[Sidenote: Occupation of Tien-tsin.]

[Sidenote: Murder of British Officers and others.]

Of course such a treacherous act could not go unpunished. An ultimatum was sent demanding an apology and the fulfilment of the Treaty of Tien-tsin, including the payment of the war indemnity of 4,000,000 taels. Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, the Plenipotentiaries who acted for the Allies in the Treaty of Tien-tsin, proceeded to Hongkong to enforce the demands of England and France, supported by an army under Sir Hope Grant, in which several Sikh regiments volunteered to serve, and a French contingent under General Cousin de Montauban, afterwards distinguished as Comte Palikao. The Plenipotentiaries came near to perishing on the voyage out. The _Malabar_ frigate, which conveyed them, was totally wrecked on a reef at Point de Galle, in Ceylon, those on board escaping with great difficulty, and with the loss of many valuable papers and much property. However, Lord Elgin and Baron de Gros arrived at Hongkong in another vessel on July 21. They found that the Chinese Council had returned an insolent answer to Mr. Bruce's ultimatum, which left no alternative but immediate action. The Allied Forces advanced on July 26, the English from Chefow, and the French from Tah-lien-hwan; they captured the Tangku Forts, with forty-five guns, on August 14, and the Taku Forts, containing about 400 guns, on the 20th, the English loss on the latter occasion amounting to seventeen killed and 183 wounded. Sir Hope Grant's despatches contain cordial references to the gallantry displayed by his French allies in the assault. Tien-tsin was next occupied on August 23, and preparations were made for an immediate advance on Pekin. The Chinese forces had disappeared, but the Government, anxious at all hazards to keep the "barbarians" from approaching the capital, opened negotiations for peace, and on September 13 Lord Elgin's secretaries, Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch, with Mr. Bowlby, the Times' correspondent, and some British and French officers, rode on to Tungchow a town within twelve miles of Pekin, to arrange the preliminaries of an interview between the Plenipotentiaries of the Allies and the Chinese. A camping ground was allotted for the Allied Forces about five miles short of Tungchow, but before Grant and de Montauban could occupy it, a large Chinese army had surrounded the position. Mr. Parkes, Mr. Loch, and their party, protected by a flag of truce, went back to Tungchow to remonstrate against this dangerous violation of the agreement; they were treacherously seized and thrust into loathsome dungeons, crowded with filthy Chinese prisoners, where thirteen out of twenty-six of them died from savage ill-treatment by their captors. Captain Brabazon, R.A., Lieutenant Anderson, and Mr. Bowlby were among these victims, their hands and feet having been so tightly bound with cords that the flesh burst and fatal mortification ensued.

TORONTO.

Capital of Ontario, and the second largest town in Canada.]

The Canadian Pacific Railway, in passing over the "Rockies," opens up some of the finest scenery in America.]

The western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the principal port on the Pacific coast of British North America.]

[Sidenote: Capitulation of Pekin.]

The Allied Army resumed its march on Pekin; the Emperor's Summer Palace, a magnificent collection of buildings, treasure-houses, and gardens, was taken on October 6; on the 12th everything was ready for the bombardment of the capital, and it was made known to the Chinese Government that this would begin the following day at noon, unless the city were surrendered previously. The Emperor had fled, but on the morning of October 13 the Governor of Pekin capitulated. The Allies entered, and before noon the English and French ensigns were flying side by side on the citadel.

[Sidenote: Destruction of the Summer Palace.]

Not till then did Lord Elgin learn the horrible fate of the captives. He decided at once that exemplary vengeance must be inflicted, but not according to the traditional custom of reprisals, by inflicting torture and death on the persons of individuals. No doubt the Chinese officials would have handed over to him as many vicarious victims as he chose to demand, but Lord Elgin decreed such a monumental act of indignation as should never be effaced from the memory of the people of China. The Summer Palace was the most precious possession of the Heavenly Dynasty. Therein had been stored the best of the art treasures of many generations; the ingenuity of architects, gardeners, and craftsmen of all kinds had been exhausted in erecting and decorating its courts and pagodas and laying out the fantastic grounds. Lord Elgin ordered its total destruction. The French and English soldiers were allowed to plunder it first; jewellery, plate, and other costly articles were "looted" in immense quantity, and then the whole vast edifice was delivered to the flames. A monument was set up on the site, bearing an inscription that this was done as the punishment for national cruelty and treachery. A Convention between the British and Chinese Plenipotentiaries was concluded on October 24, and Pekin was evacuated by the Allied troops on November 5.

Manitoba is a district of enormous farms. The Capital, Winnipeg--known as Fort Garry until its incorporation in 1873--is one of the "newest" cities in the British Empire. Its population in 1871 was 241; in 1891, 25,642. It is the centre for the distribution of the produce of Western Canada.]

HER MAJESTY AND THE PRINCE CONSORT AT A REVIEW AT ALDERSHOT, June 1859.

On the left is General Knollys, afterwards Comptroller of the Household to the Prince of Wales, in command of the troops.]

THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT FORDING THE POLL TARFF, October 9, 1861.

The story of this, the last excursion taken by the Queen in company with the Prince Consort, is told in a very interesting chapter of Her Majesty's "Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands." On the previous night the Royal party had stayed, unexpected and unrecognised, at the inn of Balwhinnie, "where," says Her Majesty, "there was hardly anything to eat; only tea and two miserable starved Highland chickens, without any potatoes; no pudding, and no _fun_." But in this last particular the succeeding day's exploits certainly cannot have been deficient.]